Katherine N. Maisel, 94, private duty nurse Katherine...

Katherine N. Maisel, a retired private duty nurse and former Baltimore resident, died in her sleep Dec. 27 at a nursing home in Mesa, Ariz. She was 94.

Before she moved to Mesa last year, Mrs. Maisel lived at Kirkwood House in Northeast Baltimore for 15 years and, earlier, on Wilkens Avenue. She was a private duty nurse for the elderly from the 1930s until she retired in 1980.

Born Katherine Norton in Dillon, N.C., she was raised in Salemburg, N.C., and moved to Baltimore in the early 1930s.

Her marriage to William D. Maisel Sr. ended in divorce.

She was a member of the Eastern Star and of Calvary Baptist Church, 120 W. Pennsylvania Ave. in Towson, where a memorial service will be held at noon Jan. 13.

Mrs. Maisel is survived by a son, William D. Maisel Jr. of Mesa; a brother, Bill Norton of Fayetteville, N.C.; a granddaughter; and two great-grandchildren.

Mary Louise Petty, 88, Annapolis homemaker

Mary Louise Petty, an Annapolis homemaker, died of heart failure Friday at Anne Arundel Medical Center. She was 88.

Born in Baltimore and raised on Charles Street in Guilford, the former Mary Louise Holmes Hunt was a graduate of Friends School and attended Western Maryland and Goucher colleges.

She enjoyed gardening, arranging flowers and travel. She entertained friends at Shelbourne House in Crownsville, where she lived from 1948 until she moved to Annapolis in 1972.

In 1948, she married Army Maj. James Marshall Petty Jr. He died in 1981. An earlier marriage, to Donald Tschudy, ended in divorce.

Services were held yesterday at St. Anne's Episcopal Church in Annapolis, where she had been a member.

She is survived by two sons, James Marshall Petty III and Robert de Shields Petty, both of Annapolis; two daughters, Mary Hunt Lami of Philadelphia and Andrienne P. Klouse of Triadelphia, W.Va.; and three grandchildren.

Minnie E. Reynolds, 85, homemaker

Minnie E. Reynolds, a former Baltimore homemaker, died Sunday of respiratory failure at North Arundel Hospital. She was 85 had lived in the Sunrise Assisted Living in Severna Park for four years.

Mrs. Reynolds had resided for many years in the 500 block of N. Robinson St. in East Baltimore.

Born in Stoneville, N.C., where she attended public schools, the former Minnie Claybrook worked at Glenn L. Martin Aircraft Co. in Middle River during World War II.

She is survived by a son, William F. Reynolds of Arnold; a sister, Frances Blackard of Mayodan, N.C.; and three grandchildren.

Nick Kosmas, 82, tailor, dry cleaner, musician

Nick Kosmas, a Greek immigrant who was a tailor, dry cleaner and musician in Baltimore, died of kidney failure Sunday at Johns Hopkins Geriatrics Center. He was 82.

Born on the island of Rhodes, in the village of Kattavia, Nick Hatzikosmas played accordion, mandolin and violin in an orchestra. He wooed fellow villager and future wife Maritsa Christ with music.

"He used to serenade her outside her window, and he still did until he died," said granddaughter Maritsa Stamas of Rosedale. "They wrote songs back and forth to each other. My grandmother just wrote him songs Christmas Day."

The couple married in 1943, moved to Baltimore four years later and eventually settled in Rosedale. They shortened the name to Kosmas.

Mr. Kosmas went into the tailoring and dry-cleaning business with his brothers-in-law, with stores near Patterson Park and in East Baltimore.

He continued to play in a band at weddings and Greek events, his granddaughter said.

In his free time, he played sports. He learned golf in his 70s and was an accomplished bowler. He enjoyed fishing and gardening.

Services will be at 11:30 a.m. today at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church, 2504 Cub Hill Road in Parkville.

In addition to his wife and granddaughter, Mr. Kosmas is survived by a daughter, Thorina Trintis of Rosedale; a son, Ernie Kosmas of Fallston; two brothers, Apostolos and George Hatzikosmas, both of Rhodes, Greece; a sister, Sofia Crocetti of Rome; two other grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren.

Russell Hirschauer Sr., 85, aircraft engineer

Russell Hirschauer Sr., a retired aircraft engineer, died of cancer Dec. 27 at the Berlin Nursing and Rehabilitation Center. He was 85 and lived in Ocean Pines.

Mr. Hirschauer retired in 1981 from Westinghouse Corp. He had been a radar engineer at its Bay Bridge and Cockeysville plants. During World War II, he was a Glenn L. Martin Co. aircraft technician and, later, a member of its Project Mercury and Gemini teams, wiring spacecraft capsules.

Family members said that as part of his work, he met astronauts who flew in the space flights of the 1960s and 1970s.

Born in Baltimore and raised on North Broadway, he attended Polytechnic Institute.

In 1939, Mr. Hirschauer married Lilly Lee Kenny, who died in 1975.

Graveside services will be held Saturday at 10 a.m. at Glen Haven Memorial Park, 7215 Ritchie Highway in Glen Burnie.

He is survived by two of his four sons, Richard Lee Hirschauer of Centreville and James William Hirschauer of Bishopville; a daughter, Rosalyn Harrison Wisniewski of Pasadena; six grandchildren; and seven great-grandchildren. A son, Russell Hirschauer Jr., died in 1996, and another, Paul Thomas Hirschauer, died in 1998.